The Bible forms Mike Johnson's worldview? What about peace, hunger, immigration?

What should we expect from Mike Johnson, the new House speaker? Should we expect a push for cuts in military spending or an increase in proposals for programs that feed the hungry? Or perhaps we should expect a more welcoming approach to immigrants?

Johnson made it clear that he is “a Bible-believing Christian.” When Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked in an interview for Johnson's positions on issues, he responded, "Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it — that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.”

I picked up a Bible, and I am confused.

Should we expect a push for military budget cuts?

The Bible I picked up opened to Jesus saying: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28

Spending limits for 2024 set military expenditure at nearly 56% of the budget. That is $886 billion of our money designated for instruments of violence.

The first major legislative action under Johnson was to pass a plan providing $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel. Is this what love of enemies looks like? What about increasing spending in areas of peaceful diplomacy?

Johnson is pro-life. He voted for a national abortion ban and co-sponsored a 20-week abortion ban. Has he looked at the picture of children being killed in Gaza? What does it mean to be pro-life and provide weapons used to “accidentally” kill children?

Perhaps Johnson needs a Bible bookmark with Eisenhower’s words: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed...”

This brings us to another biblically justified expectation.

Should we expect an increase in spending to eliminate hunger?

What happens when the Bible falls open to: "For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me." Matthew 25:35-37

More than 44 million people in the US face hunger, including 1 in 5 children.

Is feeding those who are hungry a Johnson priority?

Should we expect a more welcoming approach to immigrants?

The verse in the previous section includes, “I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

If Johson likes the Old Testament perhaps he could open to Exodus 23:9: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners …”

Let’s dream that, instead of an escalation in military presence at our southern border, there is an increase in sharing food and water.

The bottom line is we should not expect the US to be a Christian nation. There is no such entity. Christian ideals are choices we make not rules imposed by a government.

We are a multi-cultural, religiously assorted nation. It is good to make space for difference.

To think that policy and our nation can be based on the Bible ruins both the Bible and the nation.

It can be hard to trust what comes out of the mouths of those who mix Christianity and nationalism. Harriet Beecher Stowe knew this when she wrote in Uncle Tom’s Cabin: “The country is almost ruined with pious white people: such pious politicians as we have just before elections, such pious goings on in all departments of church and state, that a fellow does not know who'll cheat him next.”

Let’s be careful what we expect from Bible-reading politicians.

Jane Yoder-Short lives in Kalona.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mike Johnson policies seem to contradict some Bible verses